Visual Orchestration

A design orientation, articulated by Huffman et al. (2026), for deliberately coordinating visual cues, salience, timing, and layout so that participants in a shared environment know where to look, when to shift focus, and how interactions unfold — especially for users who rely on visual communication such as signing Deaf learners. Unlike audio mixing, which has a mature vocabulary (volume, equalisation, foregrounding), visual orchestration is an underdeveloped concept; the term names the capability of XR, video-conferencing, and immersive-classroom systems to 'turn up' the active signer or key content while 'turning down' distractions. Visual orchestration frames XR's value for Deaf users as its unique affordances for organising visual information, rather than as a tool for replicating physical classrooms.